B&P Manufacturing Selected as Northwest Michigan PTAC Small Business of the Year

B&P Manufacturing Selected as Northwest Michigan PTAC Small Business of the Year

(June 2020)

B&P Manufacturing in Cadillac, Michigan manufactures commercial material handling products used for food and beverage distribution. In recent years, they have focused on diversifying their company beyond commercial material handling products and have begun offering high quality metal fabricated products, including missile containers, for the Department of Defense.

“We started really going after defense business as a diversification strategy about 10 years ago, at that time our DoD sales were almost non-existent,” said Lia Lipar, B&P’s Director of Defense Sales and Contracts. “We began working closely with the Northwest Michigan PTAC for guidance and training. Now, based on existing open orders we anticipate DoD sales to account for roughly 50 percent of our business in FY 2020.” 

B&P attends PTAC training events and receives counseling and assistance from the PTAC on complex issues as they arise. B&P’s defense and commercial business have continued to grow, and since 2016 the company has added 10 full-time employees.

In 2018, B&P won its third-largest single delivery order worth $1.66 million from the Department of the Navy. In 2019, B&P won its second-largest single order worth $2.58 million, also with the Department of the Navy. B&P has several ongoing contracts with the Navy, NASA, Air Force, Raytheon, and DLA. In 2019 alone, B&P received over $9 million in delivery orders and contracts with the DoD as a prime contractor.

B&P has recently been awarded defense contracts that extend into 2022 and the company currently has over $11 million in open orders with the Department of Defense. B&P projects their sales to continue to climb in the next few years due in part to the continued success of its Defense Contracting Division that resulted from the direct involvement and training received from the PTAC.

"We hold up B & P as an example of how to be successful in the government marketplace,” said Cathy Fairbanks, Northwest Michigan PTAC Regional Director. “Beyond the quality of their product and people, they have dedicated themselves to ongoing training and staying connected to their PTAC.  We are pleased to name them our PTAC Small Business of the Year.”

“We are fortunate to be able to reach out to PTAC for assistance whenever we have a question or a new situation arises,” said Lipar. “They have a great team of people and are a terrific resource for small businesses that have a strategy to do business with the DoD or are currently doing business with the DoD.” 

B&P Manufacturing will be honored at the Annual Michigan Celebrates Small Business (MCSB) awards gala will be held virtually on Tuesday, July 28, 2020.